Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Another Reason for a Healthy Lifestyle: Human Research

Pepsi's advertising isn't their only questionable practice.

Below is a press release from Children of God for Life (COG). It's a chilling reminder that there are more than just health reasons to avoid an unhealthy lifestyle. Although I admire COG's effort in compiling and releasing this information and encouraging consumers to request ethical testing, it should be noted that when they mention "ethically obtained human cells" they are inadvertently including baby boy prepuces obtained through routine circumcision. As we know, this is still trafficking of body parts and still unethical.

Aborted fetal cells and neonatal foreskins are used for testing or are present in a variety of products, including medication, vaccines, cosmetics and skin grafts. Links open in a new window.

"(Largo, FL) Children of God for Life is calling on the public to boycott products of major food companies that are partnering with Senomyx, a biotech company that produces artificial flavor enhancers, unless the company stops using aborted fetal cell lines to test their products.

In 2010, the pro-life organization wrote to Senomyx CEO Kent Snyder, pointing out that moral options for testing their food additives could and should be used. But when Senomyx ignored their letter, they wrote to the companies Senomyx listed on their website as "collaborators" warning them of public backlash and threatened boycott. Food giants Pepsico, Kraft Foods, Campbell Soup, Solae and Nestlé are the primary targets of the boycott, though Senomyx boasts other international partners on their website.

Senomyx website states that “The company's key flavor programs focus on the discovery and development of savory, sweet and salt flavor ingredients that are intended to allow for the reduction of MSG, sugar and salt in food and beverage products....Using isolated human taste receptors, we created proprietary taste receptor-based assay systems that provide a biochemical or electronic readout when a flavor ingredient interacts with the receptor.”

Senomyx notes their collaborators provide them research and development funding plus royalties on sales of products using their flavor ingredients.

“What they do not tell the public is that they are using HEK 293 – human embryonic kidney cells taken from an electively aborted baby to produce those receptors”, stated Debi Vinnedge, Executive Director for Children of God for Life, a pro-life watch dog group that has been monitoring the use of aborted fetal material in medical products and cosmetics for years.

In writing to their collaborators, it took three letters before Nestlé finally admitted the truth about their relationship with Senomyx, noting the cell line was “well established in scientific research".

After hearing Ms Vinnedge speak publicly on the problem, angry consumers began writing the companies. Both Pepsico and Campbell Soup immediately responded.

Shockingly, Pepsico wrote: “We hope you are reassured to learn that our collaboration with Senomyx is strictly limited to creating lower-calorie, great-tasting beverages for consumers. This will help us achieve our commitment to reduce added sugar per serving by 25% in key brands in key markets over the next decade and ultimately help people live healthier lives.”

Campbell Soup was more concerned in their response: “Every effort is made to use the finest ingredients and develop the greatest selection of products, all at a great value. With this in mind, it must be said that the trust we have cultivated and developed over the years with our consumers is not worth compromising to cut costs or increase profit margins."

While Campbell did not state they would change their methods, still their response, gave Vinnedge hope.

“If enough people voice their outrage and intent to boycott these consumer products, it can be highly effective in convincing Senomyx to change their methods”, she noted. “Otherwise, we will be buying Coca-Cola, Lipton soups and Hershey products!”

Write to Senomyx and their partners. We as consumers DO have the power to influence their behaviors!

Kent Snyder, CEO

Senomyx

4767 Nexus Centre Drive

San Diego, California 92121

Edmund M. Carpenter, CEO

Campbell Soup

1 Campbell Place

Camden, NJ 08103-1701

Severed relationship with Senomyx - write to thank them!

Paul Bulcke, CEO

Nestlé USA

800 North Brand Boulevard

Glendale, CA 91203

Jamie Caulfield, Sr.VP

PepsiCo, Inc.

700 Anderson Hill Road

Purchase, NY 10577

Irene Rosenfeld, CEO

Kraft Foods/Cadbury Chocolate

Three Lakes Drive

Northfield, IL 60093

Mr. Torkel Rhenman Chief Executive Officer

Solae

4300 Duncan Avenue

St. Louis, Missouri 63110

"UPDATE!!! March 29, 2011 11:45AM

Within hours of our press release, Children of God for Life received notice from Campbell Soup that they have severed their ties with Senomyx.

Stated Juli Mandel Sloves, Senior Manager of Nutrition; Wellness Communications at Campbell Soup Company, "We are no longer in partnership with Senomyx. This fact was discussed during the Senomyx conference call with its investors earlier this month."

If you choose to write to Campbell Soup, please thank them for their decision. Mmmm good!"

(Guggie Daly does not promote the support of or consumption of Campbell Soup).

"The three members of the T1R class of taste-specific G protein-coupled receptors have been hypothesized to function in combination as heterodimeric sweet taste receptors. Here we show that human T1R2/T1R3 recognizes diverse natural and synthetic sweeteners. In contrast, human T1R1/T1R3 responds to the umami taste stimulus l-glutamate, and this response is enhanced by 5′-ribonucleotides, a hallmark of umami taste. The ligand specificities of rat T1R2/T1R3 and T1R1/T1R3 correspond to those of their human counterparts. These findings implicate the T1Rs in umami taste and suggest that sweet and umami taste receptors share a common subunit."

I understand not making a decision without verifying facts. You can read Senomyx's own published study here:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC123709/

"The three members of the T1R class of taste-specific G protein-coupled receptors have been hypothesized to function in combination as heterodimeric sweet taste receptors. Here we show that human T1R2/T1R3 recognizes diverse natural and synthetic sweeteners. In contrast, human T1R1/T1R3 responds to the umami taste stimulus l-glutamate, and this response is enhanced by 5′-ribonucleotides, a hallmark of umami taste. The ligand specificities of rat T1R2/T1R3 and T1R1/T1R3 correspond to those of their human counterparts. These findings implicate the T1Rs in umami taste and suggest that sweet and umami taste receptors share a common subunit."